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Wednesday, December 29, 2010

There was a point in my Christian life when I spent some time with a highly respected and highly intellectual cardiac surgeon. His family was used by God to help mine get a permanent visa in the U.S. and they were such a blessing to me when I first came to America when they had me, and another "US-newbie" couple, stay with them for about a week.

I remember one time when I and my couple Christian friends sat down together with him after dinner. Many topics came and went in our conversation that night but one somehow stuck to me that made me regret not being able to give an answer at that time as what 1 Peter 3:15 says. The good doctor wasn't a born-again Christian and he presented to us an argument that left us with less than the best answer for him for that moment. This was his argument...

~~~

How can you say that there is only one Truth about God when others' experience with Him is just presented in many different ways but directed towards the same person? It's just like having a glowing light bulb in a dark room in the middle of a remote village whereby each villager has never seen a light bulb before. One by one, the villagers were asked to get inside the room and "experience" the glowing light bulb. The first man who went inside knelt on the ground as he marveled at the warm, glowing light radiating from that bulb. When asked what he thinks about the light bulb after coming out he answered, "That was a star," and he went away feeling happy that he can now relive his experience with "the star" over and over again.

The next individual that went into the room was a woman and the moment she saw the glowing light bulb hanging in the middle of the room she immediately leaped with joy and danced around. When she came out of the room and was asked about her experience, the woman quickly answered, "It is my joy to tell you that now I have experienced the sun!"

Many others went in and out of the room and experienced the light bulb in their own manner. After the last villager came out, he exclaimed that what he had experienced was “a piece of the moon.” All of those who described their experience gave a different name to it but all of their truth was directed to one same object – the light bulb in the middle of that dark room.

How then can we say that there’s only ONE truth that prevails when the different experiences were true for each individual villager? Therefore, there really is no “wrong” way of worshipping God and the rest of the world’s religion should be embraced because the bottom line of it all is the experience and worship of the same God.

A Facebook app once said, " ...there are many truths, and they all point to one source - God," and there's no point spending energy arguing whose truth is "righter". It is just what Logical Pluralism claims - that different accounts of validity can be equally correct.

I will not "argue" with you today but will pray that the Word of God in Scripture will be the one to present to you the REAL TRUTH about Himself. I pray that as you read along, you will not take this as MY own personal argument but that it is the TRUTH as presented by Scripture. My only stand is to share biblical principles to you as what Paul wrote in Romans 10:11-14...

"For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?" (KJV)

The only question you need to consider at this point in time is whether you take the Word of God (The Bible/Scripture) an ultimate authority in life, or not.

The author of life is indeed God Himself, and Scripture is clear with its accounts in Genesis 1 as to how God created everything. We must understand, though, that God has personally introduced Himself to us as the ONLY God and has warned us in His Word about "other gods".

"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the LORD he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." (Deuteronomy 4:39)

"Fear ye not, neither be afraid: have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any." (Isaiah 44:8)

"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me..." (Isaiah 45:5)

"See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand." (Deuteronomy 32:39)

“For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?" (2 Samuel 22:32, ESV)

"There is none holy as the LORD: for there is none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God." (1 Saumel 2:2)

When we saturate ourselves in God's Word, He reveals Himself to us. Knowing now that God HIMSELF, the One True God of Scripture, the author of life, has spoken these things above, let us reconsider then our way of thinking when we claim that "accepting other truths is another way of loving God".

"I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.Thou shalt have none other gods before me.Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them... (Deuteronomy 5:6-9)

"But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him." (1 Corinthians 8:6)

If "other truths" are acceptable to God, He will no longer command his disciples this:

"Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:" (Matthew 28:19)

The word "teach" here came from the Greek word μαθητεύω, mathéteuó, which means to train, disciple, instruct. Teaching, is to cause to KNOW SOMETHING; to cause to know HOW; to impart the knowledge; to provide instruction.

This is why Jesus, Himself, commissioned His disciples to GO and TEACH ALL NATIONS, and not just some nations but ALL nations, because this is the ONLY TRUTH that stands before the throne of the ONE TRUE GOD of heaven and earth.

If I were to see the good surgeon again today I would have sat down with him and share to him what I have been wanting to share all these years since he presented his argument. I would have told him that there might be differing opinions and experiences about the light bulb and each individual may have addressed it in many different ways, BUT only ONE TRUTH prevails. That glowing item in the middle of the room is a light bulb, not a star, a sun or a moon. The MAKER of the light bulb can CLAIM this truth because HE KNOWS it is that according to his purpose. That is the same with us today.

Every man and woman may believe one thing and another, but the ONLY Truth that will stand is the one that the Father in heaven, the only ONE TRUE God, has presented to His creation. This is the Truth of His Word that was in the beginning and the Word being with GOD, and the Word being GOD. It is the truth that this Word became flesh and dwelt among us. And it is what Jesus Christ is for us...

The only Way and the TRUTH and Life. (John 14:6)

There is one true logic, and it takes the correct account of truth-preservation and the correct account of validity. There will only be ONE TRUTH and not many truths.

In the end, it will all boil down to your taking SERIOUSLY the Word of GOD, JESUS CHRIST.

Monday, December 13, 2010

Contrary to what most people believe, Anger is allowable even in the lives of Christians. We usually immediately relate anger with sin and most often than not, when we do get angry about some things in our lives, the devil tends to press down on us with accusations of sinning because we're angry.

The bible, however, presented that there are certain times in our lives that anger may be acceptable. When we read the book of Mark in chapter 3, there we find an account where Jesus healed a sick man's withered hand in the synagogue on a sabbath day. According to Jewish practice, it is forbidden to do pretty much anything during the Sabbath and the Pharisees were looking forward to when Jesus heals a man on a sabbath day just so they can accuse him of breaking the law.

Here's the account of that particular Sabbath:

"1And he entered again into the synagogue; and there was a man there which had a withered hand. 2And they watched him, whether he would heal him on the sabbath day; that they might accuse him. 3And he saith unto the man which had the withered hand, Stand forth. 4And he saith unto them, Is it lawful to do good on the sabbath days, or to do evil? to save life, or to kill? But they held their peace. 5And when he had looked round about on them with anger, being grieved for the hardness of their hearts, he saith unto the man, Stretch forth thine hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other." (Mark 3:1-5)

Notice that the bible clearly shows the picture of Jesus looking at the Pharisees with anger that one Sabbath day. The phrase that followed that, though, shows a very substantial reason of why Jesus had anger towards them. He was grieved deep inside because of THE HARDNESS OF THEIR HEARTS! Jesus' reason to be angry at the Pharisees was because their hearts were never right with God! They were pretentious, they were prideful, they were hypocrites, they were "hard-hearted", they were aloof to the Truth in Scripture, they were "dead inside", to which Jesus even called them "Snakes, blind guides, a brood of vipers and hypocrites all doomed to damnation in hell!". Those are very angry words if you would ask me when you read what Jesus said about the Pharisees in Matthew 23. He was not sugar-coating any of the statements He directed at them.

Now those weren't the only times we read about Jesus being angry. Jesus also went beyond words in His anger when He walked into the temple one day and saw that they have made a market out of it!

"And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,13And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." (Matthew 21:12-13)

This account in Matthew shows us how Jesus' anger resulted in overthrown tables and seats. Imagine being in the temple that day and you see the hands of the Lord Jesus that healed the sick were now flinging tables of moneychangers upside down. I'd say you have to be filled with reasonable anger in order for you to be pushed to the edge where you'll bewrecking havoc of the things around you!

So what made Jesus THAT angry while He was there? He was angry at how hard-hearted the people were to have made the temple, which was SUPPOSED to be a house of prayer, into a semi-Black-Friday frenzy! He was angry because they no longer honored God but instead were merrily going on their own foolish ways of focusing on commercialization inside the temple!

DO THESE PICTURES OF JESUS BEING ANGRY THEN GIVE US THE LICENSE TO BE ANGRY AT SOMEONE AS WE PLEASE? Definitely, NOT! The bible warns us in Psalm 4:4 this:"In your anger do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent."This warning is even reiterated in Ephesians 4:26-27: "Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil."

If we are to know exactly WHEN we are given the permission to be angry, we should only look at JESUS and nobody else. He was angry because of circumstances that do not uphold God the Father. He became angry ONLY at situations that neither GLORIFY GOD nor HONOR GOD. How are we able to know then, that when we get angry at someone or something, it is the permissible KIND that we are harboring at the moment? Let us allow Scriptures - the Word of God, to guide us in our anger...

Do not be angry at someone in order to take revenge at them or to get even! (Romans 12:19)

Being Quick-tempered is sin and is not the permissible kind of anger. Do not just be angry at petty little annoyances of things NOT GOING YOUR WAY! (Proverbs 19:11) (Proverbs 12:16)

We are not to become angry and QUARREL others if we have differing opinions. (Proverbs 15:18)

Do not let your anger LINGER. (Ephesians 4:26)

Do not to use OBSCENE LANGUAGE nor cursing when you're angry. (Colossians 3:8)

Understand that in Ephesians 4:31, we are to deliberately GET RID of "bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, and all malice." They are of the same family so we have to be careful when we get angry:

We must not allow ourselves to feel intense anger, which is wrath.

We must not have a desire to harm others or want to see others suffer, which is malice.

We must not harbor bitterness, which is usually evident as "a violent, fierce TEMPER."

We must not SCREAM at each other, which is what clamour is all about.

We must never slander or speak defamatory words against another, which is evil speaking. (Ephesians 4:29)

As much as possible, we have to CONTROL our hearts to not continue being angry.

"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)

Remember this, my friend, the only real time Christians are ever to become angry is when we see the Lord Jesus disrespected, dishonored and His commandments broken.

The rest of the time, if the reason of our anger is because things didn't go OUR way, we are all sinning and we must repent and confess to God for such kind of anger.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Disclaimer:The following videos are not my own but are documentaries of individuals who trusted the LORD with all their hearts. If you so choose to continue viewing them, it will be of your own free will and that you will take the information provided at your own discretion. The sole purpose of putting them up in this blog is to present the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the real message of the Gospel in light of Scriptures.

On a personal note, I welcome any kind of reaction and question as a personal message sent to my email at cookie.alicaya@gmail. com. It is solely because I love you with the love of Christ that I am putting this most difficult post in my blog.

"The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.

My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."

(1 Corinthians 16:23-24)

"And it shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently unto the voice of the LORD thy God, to observeandto do all his commandments which I command thee this day, that the LORD thy God will set thee on high above all nations of the earth:And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God." (Deuteronomy 28:1-2)

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

We all need a savior at some point in our lives. That's why there's only one character that we all love in a certain movie or cartoon, and that's the Hero. He who saves the day will always have a special place in our hearts.

When we face adversities and tribulations in the real world that would send us hanging on a thread over a cliff, we would oftentimes be so humbled by our circumstances that we long for someone to save us. We reach a point there where we grope for the hand of a hero who can save us from whatever danger we've put ourselves into.

Although most individuals would deny the fact that they need a Savior, the bible clearly states that we have so many different situations in our lives where we needed to have a Savior! Many passages of Scripture talks about various instances where man calls out for a savior...

Jacob we hear in Genesis 32:11 saying : "Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, [and] the mother with the children."

David, in the book of Psalms, had clearly presented his case (or should we say, cases) that he needs to be helped by a Savior. Take his plea in Psalm 38: 19-22...

"But mine enemies are lively, and they are strong: and they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. They also that render evil for good are mine adversaries; because I follow the thing that good is. Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation."

In Psalm 59:2 and many other verses in the Psalms, he pleads: "Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men."

Peter, the disciple of Jesus, even shouted out for a savior in Matthew 14:30: "But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me."

And contrary to what I used to believe in, even Mary, the mother of Jesus, acknowledged that she has a Savior:

"And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,

And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour."(Luke 1:46-47)

What is a savior, anyway? The online Merriam-Webster Dictionary defined it as one that saves from danger or destruction. Some of us probably would say at this point that we are not in danger nor are we on the road to destruction. But can I share to you something from Scripture that you might want to consider? The bible tells us this...

"Forall have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;" (Romans 3:23)

"For the wages of sin [is] death..." (Romans 6:23)

"But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8, KJV)

{"But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (ESV)}

Do not excuse yourself of being unaware of this Truth, my friend. The Word of God stands forever and will never fail. We ALL have sinned against God and we all are on the highway to the lake which burns with fire and sulfur! Destruction is our last name and we all need a Savior.

This is such a hopeless and tragic picture to think about during the Christmas season, you say? Well, it doesn't really end there, my friend. LISTEN TO WHAT THE WORD OF GOD SAYS...

"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11)

Here lies our hope, my dear friend...

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." (John 3:16)

Do not be deceived by the world, though. Many religions claim a way for salvation. Many deny Jesus Christ and His work as our Savior. Many would teach you to call on other names to be saved. Many will redirect your attention from THE Savior to another imaginary divine person or deity. JESUS CHRIST IS THE ONLY WAY, THE ONLY TRUTH, THE ONLY SOURCE OF LIFE! And when we need to call out for a Savior to "SAve US!", be sure you understand this:

"Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. (Acts 4:10-12)

The God of the bible Himself made sure we understand that HE is the only Savior of mankind...

"I, even I, am the LORD; and

beside me there is no saviour." (Isaiah 43:11)

If you do celebrate Christmas, may you fully understand by the Word of God WHY you will celebrate it this year and the years that follow that God will give to you. When you celebrate Christmas, may you pause and meditate that it is the birth of our SAVIOR, JESUS Christ that we are celebrating... because I believe that if you haven't really called unto His name acknowledging that HE IS your SAVIOR, there's really no point in you celebrating the Christmas season at all.

Friday, December 3, 2010

I have again found myself failing drastically in my pursuit to developing a meek and gentle spirit. I have found myself struggling with a sin that easily entangles me almost every day. I know that this stemmed up from past curses and experiences that robbed me of my joy, but I'm not blaming anything (nor anybody) else other than my own incapacity to resist the devil.

In my bible reading this morning, I came across a verse that convicted, as well as encouraged me in my strive for holiness. As I read through a couple chapters of the book of Proverbs, this verse somehow jumped out and stabbed me in the heart...

"The fear of the LORD [is] to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate." (Proverbs 8:13)

It simply convicted me that the more inclined I am to following the evil way, the less fearful I am of the Lord! The verse clearly states that "fearing the LORD" is equal to "hating evil!" I have always believed that this fear of the Lord is necessary. I've even made a post about this here. Yet, now that I stumbled upon Proverbs 8:13, I realized that the more I allow myself to commit a sin in my daily walk with the Lord, the more it would become evident in my life that I might not actually be hating evil but loving it.

I never want to lose my fear of the Lord! The bible teaches that it is important for a man to fear the Lord because it will be the beginning of wisdom and knowledge (Prov. 9:10, Prov. 1:7). And without wisdom and knowledge, one may only be summed up into one state of being - a FOOL!

As a christian who claims to know the Lord Jesus Christ, I am required to keep in my heart the Fear of the Lord (or in other words, the Hate for Evil things). 2 Peter 1:5-7 shows us what we need to have in our lives instead...

"Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity."

The Word of God explains why we need to have all these godly characters instead of loving what is evil. He tells us in 2 Peter 1:8-9 that if we do confess that we know the Lord Jesus Christ, our testimony will not be empty or stagnant.

"For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins."

(2 Peter 1:8-9)

It seems so difficult for me to practice the above mentioned characters in my life all the time, but I found an encouragement in the Word of God on how exactly to do it. Proverbs 23:17 tells us this:

"Let not thine heart envy sinners: but [be thou] in the fear of the LORD

all the day long."

It's a relief to know that God is aware of it being a constant battle, that is why He has encouraged (and given us a tip) on how to overcome. He has made sure that we know how important it is to be in the fear of the Lord, ALL THE DAY LONG! He didn't say just in the morning, or every now and then during the day. He clearly stated that we should CONTINUALLY BE in the fear of the LORD, ALL DAY LONG!

So how do we know that we are in the fear of the Lord? The bible shows us the following evidences:

"He that walketh in his uprightness feareth the LORD:

but [he that is] perverse in his ways despiseth him." (Proverbs 14:2)

"The fear of the LORD leads to life: Then one rests content, untouched by trouble." (Proverbs 19:23)

"By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD [men] depart from evil." (Proverbs 16:6)

Not only is the fear of the LORD a motivation for us to depart from evil, it allows us to rest in His presence from the troubles that this world brings! That is really a blessing to have. Not everyone is able to rest content and untouched, unaffected by the many troubles the world brings to us in this life.

Now, remember I said that those that don't fear the Lord are considered foolish? I can say so because Proverbs 14:9 makes it clear for us...

"Fools make a mock at sin: but among the righteous [there is] favour."

A foolish person never really takes sin seriously. He laughs about it day in and day out. He never considers its weight. He treats sin with ridicule. It doesn't really make him cringe or anything because it's all just a harmless joke for him. But this is outrageously dangerous, my friend, because Proverbs 15:9 clearly warns us that "the way of the wicked [is] an abomination unto the LORD".

How do we know then, that we are living foolishly? Here's a list I've come up with that might help identify the FOOL in us:

1) A fool is one who is easily angered/quick-tempered and rages. (Proverbs 14:16-17)2) A fool does not listen to his father's instructions. (Proverbs 15:5)3) A fool brings trouble and shame to his/her parents. (Proverbs 17:25)4) A fool enrages the Lord with his sinful ways. (Proverbs 19:3)5) A fool's thoughts is focused on sin. (Proverbs 24:9)6) A fool blames God for everything. (Psalm 74:22)7) A fool focuses on having abundance in this life. ( (Luke 12:18)8) A fool does not believe God IN HIS HEART. He may profess that He believes in God but his words, his actions shows otherwise. (Psalm 53:1)9) A fool does not LISTEN to the Word of God and believes that he is not doing anything wrong. (Proverbs 12:15)10) A fool is one who does not believe in the LORD JESUS CHRIST and does not build his life upon Jesus. (Matthew 6:26-27)

So, do we have any of the above signs and symptoms of foolishness? Let us then go back to living all the days of our lives in the fear of the LORD. No Fools are allowed in the Kingdom of God!

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